A show hoping to reinvigorate the long lost traditions of gathering together on the streets and dancing in moments of collective joy is to open London’s contemporary dance festival, Dance Umbrella.
Of Riders and Running Horses, choreographed by Dan Canham, will feature five dancers and a live band performing on a car park rooftop in east London over four nights, transforming the utilitarian space into a stage and the city skyline into the set.
The show, which features five female dancers, took its original inspiration from traditional folk dances such as the Old Glory Molly and the Pig Dyke Molly from East Anglia and the Flaming Tar Barrels of Ottery St Mark.
Canham wanted to draw on the communal spirit the dances had once held in communities and create a contemporary take on these dance styles and events.
“I wanted to draw on this idea of dance as a very immediate and direct thing to engage with and take those raw ingredients of the night-time live music, and people dancing to create a really exciting show,” said Canham.
He was partly inspired by Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Dancing in the Streets, which traces how modern capitalist society fell out of love with collective festivities.
Canham said the piece was about reclaiming the city space in a gentle way. In the four UK cities the show has been performed in so far, he said they always ended with a spontaneous dance party erupting as the audience joined in, adding: “The whole show is permeated by this infectious energy and the dancers are really open, so it’s not something we have to work hard on.
“It is a re-imagination of what folk might mean. It’s quite an energetic performance and it’s quite a loud show. There’s no narrative, it is purely a celebration of people moving to music and people being witness to that, and joining in.”
The score features everything from guitars to vocals, synths, drums and lopped samples, and will be performed live each night by Luke Harney and Sam Halmarack. Canham said this was essential for both the feel of immediacy and element of improvisation in the music and the choreography, so it is not “prepared and served to the audience on a plate”.
“For the choreography I’ve borrowed from a lot of styles that could be considered 21st century folk dancing, like jump style – which is a form of rave dance from the late 90s in Europe, as well as some house dance steps,” explained Canham.
“There’s also a lot of freedom and improvisation within the show so the dancers own the piece in some way, in response to the music.”
The decision to have five female dancers was also a deliberate decision on the part of Canham. He said: “When I was initially thinking about the piece, a lot of the folk events that I had watched had been men-only so I just wanted to turn that on its head. I also knew that it would be quite an ecstatic piece, with a real feel of abandon to it, and I was more interested in what it would be like to have women going through that experience than men.”
The piece was commissioned by Dance Umbrella, which has been running since 1978, but made its debut in Bristol in May. Emma Gladstone, artistic director of the contemporary dance festival, said: “As an opening show it is a very joyous bit of work. I’m very interested in how we look at choreography in its broadest sense, what we define as contemporary and relevant, and Dan’s piece is examining folk dancing but in a completely contemporary way and that’s something I find interesting.
“Also the urban and collective nature of it, how it is important to him that the audience participates as well as watches, makes me really excited by this piece.”
Other highlights of the festival include ice skaters at Somerset House and an unusual piece called 16 singers – a musical project specifically for babies aged up to 18 months, created using music, breaths and rhythm.
- Of Riders and Running Horses runs until 18 October. Dance Umbrella runs until 31 October
